Iguma: We’re not the best but we have belief

In February 1994, two years before American singer R. Kelly released his famous track I Believe I Can Fly, a boy with a very special future ahead of him was born in the Ugandan city of Entebbe. The child in question was called Denis Iguma, who would go on to help the Cranes take flight and qualify for the 2017 CAF Africa Cup of Nations, the first time they will have graced the continental finals in 39 years. Uganda clinched their place at the competition by sharing top spot in Group D with Burkina Faso, the two sides finishing with the same number of points and the same goal difference. As if that achievement were not enough, Iguma and his team-mates also beat Togo 4-0 on aggregate to advance to the final round of the African qualifying competition for the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia™. Looking back at those two wins over the Togolese in an interview with FIFA.com, the 22-year-old national team star, who plays his club football for Lebanese side Al Ahed, said: “We’ve done well in the qualifiers up to now, reaching the last round thanks to the win over Togo. We played against them in the Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers (two years ago) and we lost both times. “The coach and the players have learned from their mistakes. We weren’t the favourites but we achieved our objective by sticking together and believing in ourselves. We won in Togo but we still had to finish the job off. We believed in our ability to do that though.” Steady progress Taking on the Uganda post in May 2013, with three other foreign coaches having held it in the previous ten years, Serbian coach Milutin Sredojevic immediately …

continue reading in source www.cafonline.com